A true legacy has everything to do with an individual's passion and work. It's a life filled with honesty, compassion, creativity, and grit. Leaving behind a legacy means you've inspired others to do better, to be better, and to overcome and adapt to odds that may seem insurmountable in their current circumstances. When I consider the legacy of Audrey Hepburn, I'm immediately filled with a sense of awe and admiration for someone who survived the very worst of World War II and became a talented dancer and actress when the likelihood of such opportunities was nearly inconceivable. She was a fashion icon, a trendsetter, goal-oriented, service-oriented, and an incredibly funny individual. I remember watching a documentary on her life and being impressed by her unfailing determination to do good in all her endeavors. Her most important legacy was that of the work she did with UNICEF, using her platform to create awareness for the horrible circumstances the starving children in war-torn Africa had experienced. It was dear to her heart because it was something she had lived through and overcome as a child. The legacy of Maya Angelou is far different from Audrey's, but it is just as powerful and important. She was an award-winning author, poet, and civil rights activist, fighting for equality and freedom and shedding light on racial prejudice within the United States. She understood it because she had lived it. She had been the recipient of more cruel injustice and racism than most. She used words to share her experiences, her thoughts, and her insights. She used her words to fight against such a prevalent problem, bringing people together. Those words are forever immortalized now that she is no longer with us. Her legacy's mission and focus differed in breadth and scope from Audrey's, but at the end of the day, it inspired others and created change where change was needed. She also discussed the importance of legacy and what it should accomplish when she stated, "If you're going to live, leave a legacy. Make a mark on the world that can't be erased." Hepburn and Angelou certainly left marks that no one can erase. Whether the legacy inspires someone to fight through a debilitating illness, push through disappointment and failure, educate themselves, improve themselves, or choose selflessness over greed, it is valuable because it is achievable and leaves a positive mark on humanity. I want to leave behind a legacy of hard work and determination. I want to be an advocate for those who need their voices heard. I want to use my platform to help the youth in our community. I want them to understand their value and their worth. I have words just like Maya Angelou, and I have experience just like Audrey Hepburn. I have a desire to create change and improve others' lives and their self-perceptions. My books are for young adults, encouraging them to embrace their unique differences and the unique differences in others. I speak to their insecurities and their fears, their hopes, and their dreams. I write it because I understand it. I write it because I know it can help. My legacy may not be original, but it is necessary and needed. It's meant to make a difference and help our youth believe in themselves when even their own family members refuse. I firmly believe we are all capable of leaving behind a legacy, something that can uplift and encourage others to seek out their own legacies and leave their own marks on the world.

The first two women who come to mind are my mother and my paternal grandmother, Grandma Savage. These ladies were thick as thieves, and the love and encouragement they offered contributed to much of my success. I struggled with depression in middle school and high school, and they were a constant source of support and inspiration, teaching me to love and accept myself as I fought off self-doubt and massive insecurities concerning my appearance. Looking back, I now find it so sad that we tie our power and our worth to the world's standards of beauty. The inability to see that beauty in ourselves is crippling on every level. It prevents us from believing in ourselves in other areas of life. A real turning point for me occurred during my second year of college when Grandma Savage came to visit us. I had managed to get up the nerve to audition for the vocal jazz position with the college jazz band. Much to my surprise, the director chose me to sing with them for the rest of the year. I was exhilarated and terrified. I could sing, but I felt so uncomfortable in my own skin. The day of my first concert, I came home to find an amazing, black-sequined dress on my bed. Apparently, Grandma Savage and my mom had gone shopping for me. They were so excited to get me that dress. I panicked. I told them I wasn't pretty enough. I couldn't pull off something like that. People would think I looked ridiculous. The dress was meant for someone else. I remember Grandma Savage looking so sad when she said, "Honey, don't you know this dress is only meant to give you confidence and help you tap into the beauty that is you? Why do you diminish yourself when you are so much more?" They left to go run errands and told me they would see me at the concert. I remember them looking a bit defeated because they had been so excited for me to wear that dress. Her words kept ringing in my ears. Why did I always diminish myself? Why didn't I see myself as someone who could wear something like that amazing black dress? It occurred to me that I had allowed myself to be shortchanged by all the negative body-image messages I had received from the media, from guys, and from other women who killed themselves to meet a certain physical standard. And for what? Had these massive insecurities done me any favors? No. Not one bit. I decided to wear that dress. I got ready for the concert and stared at myself in the mirror. My confidence was shaky, but I had nothing to lose. Grandma Savage was right. The dress was meant to enhance what was already there. I wore the dress. It did not wear me. I can't tell you how many times I repeated that mantra. Right before I went on, I felt this calming sensation wash over me. I pictured myself singing in the shower, the living room, my bedroom, and dug deep to hold onto that confidence. I channeled those feelings and found a power that had been smothered by multiple damaging messages. I took what she had said to heart, and I strode onto that stage like I owned the place. My mom filmed the whole thing, and if you ever watch the video, you'll hear Grandma Savage whistling and screaming in the background. "She wore it! She wore the dress!" It was a turning point for me. I continued to sing with the jazz band and even got accepted into the vocal jazz program at Sacramento State University. I come from a long line of strong women, and I was supported and strengthened by two very important women in my life. I believe in paying it forward. I can use my platform to help young women discover their power and their own versions of beauty through the stories I write and the female authors I publish. As I continue my writing and publishing journey, I plan on giving a voice to women everywhere, women who deserve to have their unique voices and beauty both seen and heard.

I've struggled with depression and anxiety since the age of twelve. As a major overachiever with a type-A personality, I found it difficult to be happy with myself and the things I had accomplished in my life. My teenage years were rough. I relied too heavily upon the opinions of others when framing my identity and my own sense of belonging and self-worth. Unfortunately, I think this is fairly common for most teenagers. However, if you couple those tendencies with crippling depression and anxiety while constantly expecting more from yourself, you discover that momentum of any kind is nearly impossible. Your very own thought processes and limiting beliefs become major stumbling blocks. I went to therapy and received some much-needed help and guidance so I could replace the bad thought processes with the good. I also discovered that creative writing was an outlet that offered therapy on a level I'd never before experienced. While I developed my craft and began my journey as an indie author, I realized that I could do some good for others when it came to offering entertainment, escapism, and some encouragement for the youth of today. As a result, I write young adult fiction and incorporate important themes within the fantastical worlds I create to encourage our youth to value and accept themselves. I want to teach them how to find and internalize their own self-worth due to their unique abilities and achievements rather than relying on validation from others. I want to call out the crippling limiting beliefs and negative messages that our youth face today by sending messages of empowerment, acceptance, and love. As I continue writing and publishing, I hope the youth (and even the adults) who follow me will find these messages a healing balm and a source of mental and emotional power when battling and overcoming mental illness.

Grizzy is a pomeranian with some massive spunk. He has been the best thing we could have done for our kids. He quickly established a tradition where we can't go anywhere unless Grizzy pretends to drive first. If we turn the car on and go before he has a chance to play driver, he will let out the cutest little chirping sound until you pull over, turn off the car, and let him take the wheel. You have to sit there a good minute before he is satisfied. Then he will snuggle up on someone's lap for the drive.

As a published author, I've been given wonderful opportunities to create stories and share them with the world. My main focus has been writing young adult fiction since my own teenage years were pretty rocky. I wrote The Healer Series first. This is a young adult romantic fantasy series that focuses on themes of choice vs. destiny as well as accountability. I wanted teens to know that their choices and their actions, their dreams, and their aspirations were valid. I wanted them to know that they had innate powers and abilities when it came to what they could accomplish in life. The Healer Series can be found on Amazon at this link. http://mybook.to/book1healer My second series is entitled, Paranormal Misfits. That one was inspired by my niece who struggled with her appearance. The main character is a young girl who has fought hard to fit into society's mold but never quite achieved it. The goal of this series was to teach teenagers to accept themselves and their beautiful differences. Paranormal Misfits can be found on Amazon at this link. http://mybook.to/myfairassassin As I continue to write for young adults, I want to offer them hope, courage, and self-acceptance wrapped up in an entertaining read. I also help authors learn the craft of writing. The content I create on YouTube is both written and spoken since I prepare tutorials and present them in video form. I feel that anyone who wants to learn to write absolutely can, and my goal with my tutorials is to teach fundamentals and advanced methods for crafting fiction and nonfiction. I also teach authors how to publish and market their books so they can be successful writers in their own fields. As I pursue my master's in publishing this year, I hope to gain even more knowledge and experience that will assist me in creating content for authors, young and old, as they strive to share their stories and make their voices heard.

COVID-19 created a scenario where the things I always took for granted were stripped away, forcing me to realize that life is fleeting, moments with loved ones are precious, and the ability to socialize and interact with others is something supremely necessary for our mental and emotional health. Never was that made more clear to me than when I was forced to take my children out of school and homeschool them through online programs. Let me first state that I am not an elementary school or middle school teacher, but that is what I became for nearly a year due to COVID. I have four children between the ages of seven and thirteen. Their emotional needs varied during this time, but the one constant in all of this was the sadness they experienced due to isolation. The loneliness was difficult for them. The long days of lessons were tough on them because I spent three hours with each child on their assignments every day. During this period, I was lucky to have remote work, but I had to find time to get it done while navigating homeschool and finishing up my own bachelor's program. As any parent will tell you, navigating life while dealing with homeschool, your own responsibilities, and your children's' fears, loneliness, and isolation is difficult to work through. My kids wanted to spend quality time with me aside from the daily grind of school work, and I found myself too drained to meet their needs at times. They needed to be social, to have friends, to participate in recreational activities, and to feel like I was making an effort to spend time with them outside of online schooling. I couldn't help them in the friend department due to COVID restrictions, but I had control over the time I spent with them and the activities we did together. I realized I couldn't just check off schoolwork and call it good. We really had to schedule out our week and include activities that got them out of the house, gave them exercise, alleviated their stress and fears, and provided for their mental health and happiness. It hasn't been easy, but this time with my kids has made me grateful. It's made me appreciate this level of understanding and compassion for them I may not have gained any other way. It's given me an opportunity to truly know them because we have turned all of this time together into something that is meaningful. Now, as I pursue my master's degree, I'm grateful that I was able to spend this year with them in a way that has created really beautiful memories and made our time together so worthwhile. Life will move on, and COVID will not be a forever thing. As our lives get busier, as my kids grow and become more independent, and as they eventually move out to pursue their goals and dreams, we probably won't be able to spend nearly as much time together as we have over the last year. So I'll hold on to the good memories we made and be grateful for the hardships that have brought us closer together.

A moment that changed my perspective on life was the moment I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I don't think there is anything that completely upends your perspective more thoroughly than when you're faced with your own mortality. I'd just returned from a service mission much sooner than planned due to feeling so ill. Cancer was not anything I had anticipated, especially at the age of twenty-three. I remember the diagnosis being less than favorable. I was basically sent home to die. I left that appointment feeling like I had a lot more to learn and more to offer. I had plans. I had things I wanted to do in this life, and I didn't want to sit at home and wait to die when I had so much living to do. When life isn't threatened, it's easier to take it for granted. You take relationships with family for granted because you always feel you'll be here on this earth with them forever. Death seems so far away, and truly appreciating every moment isn't something I'd ever done before. I was definitely appreciating it at that point and realizing that I did not want to savor every moment only to die within a few weeks. I wanted to savor every moment for the next sixty years if possible. I'd just finally appreciated my life and my opportunities in a way most people don't get the chance to. If the medical community didn't have any answers for me, then I needed to look at other alternatives. That was when I found a natural doctor who taught me a host of things concerning medicine, the body, healthy eating, and healthy living that I had never ever before considered. I even learned about energy healing and realized the power of positive thought and self-healing. To say my vision of life and what it had to offer expanded exponentially would be an understatement. I also fought pretty desperately to do what medical doctors said couldn't be done. I fought to live. The pain was agonizing, the treatments were difficult, and I felt tired and weak for months, but I kept telling myself how lucky I was that months had passed, and I was still kicking. I was still alive. It took six months to go from breast cancer to no cancer. I may have been sick, tired, and weak, but I laughed more. I took the time to listen with real intent and understanding. I paid attention to the little things like my mom's obsession with Harry Potter and her tendency to wear at least one item of clothing that showcased said obsession every day. I wanted to see what she planned to wear the next day and the next. She would plan a week in advance and tell me she couldn't wait for me to see her latest fashion choice. She truly believed I would still be around. After overcoming something that had been a death sentence, I looked at my future and told myself fear and doubt would merely waste my time. If I had a goal or a dream then I had to jump at it. I had to go for it. If I could fight cancer, then I could do absolutely anything I set out to do. The boost in confidence really helped me pursue my dreams when it came to writing. Any time I worried about the next book I was about to publish, I would remind myself I was lucky to be alive to publish it. I'd worked hard on it, and I wasn't going to keep my manuscript in a file on a computer when I could be entertaining people and making people laugh. Nearly losing your life can make you a bit fearless to some extent. Reservations and nerves are always there, but you kick them to the curb a lot easier when you consider that doing nothing means nothing gets accomplished...and eventually you die. I'd rather accomplish everything I've ever set out to accomplish. That way, when my time finally comes, I'll never question whether I gave this life my all. I'll always know that I did.

From the time I was twelve, I was on anti-depressants. My years in ballet and the competitive nature of the sport caused some very unreal expectations that I placed on my life. The tendency to compare myself to others while simultaneously dealing with what I later identified as Impostor Syndrome created a maelstrom of mental health issues that were a nasty battle to deal with throughout my formative years. My parents were conscientious when it came to therapy and counseling. I had to have been the only teenager I knew who had mastered every breathing technique known to man as well as sensory therapy, hypnotherapy, and other techniques for coping with anxiety and depression. My sophomore year of high school offered me a bit of an epiphany. I could continue to allow my own mental handicaps to prevent me from truly living, or I could use what I had learned in therapy to raise my quality of life and go after things I had always wanted to do no matter how badly my depression or anxiety tried to intervene. I think I became so determined to overcome my issues, I went overboard, auditioning for everything like show choir, dance teams, and plays. I also participated in school clubs and service after school to force myself into situations where I actually had to talk to people. My biggest fear came from singing in front of others. So, naturally, I tried to sing at any event that would have me just so I could get over it. As I found my true passion in life, that of writing and publishing, I realized I would have to face another aspect of Impostor Syndrome that would constantly plague me. Every time I write a novel and publish it, the self-doubt kicks in. The anxiety and depression mount. It's a battle to live your dreams and pursue your goals when the little voice in your head is constantly at odds with your own personal self-worth. There are many things I have learned during this lifelong battle against mental health, but two things stand out the most. 1. Self-love is the hardest thing to achieve in this life and the most crucial ability to master when battling mental health. 2. I'm absolutely not alone in this fight. Three years ago, I was in a pretty good spot mentally and emotionally. I was a successful writer, entrepreneur, mother, and wife. Life was hard but good, and I was happy. Then, due to circumstances outside my control, my spouse made decisions that ended our marriage, and I was thrown into a mental tailspin that I nearly failed to overcome. A year into that debacle, I was visiting my parents' house with my kids, still trying to figure out how to handle things financially, feeling empty and hollow on a creative level, and unable to finish my last book in my series for my fans. I was tapped out on every level, and homeschooling the kids due to COVID had also added to the strain. I don't think I'd realized how bad things had gotten until I was sitting in my bedroom with a bottle of pills in my hand ready to end everything. It seemed like the most logical, natural solution, something that would be best for everyone. Obviously, it was insane, but at that moment I can admit to having absolutely lost my mind. Then a dear friend texted me to let me know I was loved. She described moments when I had helped her and talked about how she had pulled through because I had been there for her and understood her. It was enough to snap me out of whatever insanity and gripped me. It was also time to get more help. All of this to explain how my battle with mental health has shaped my goals, relationships, and understanding of the world... Let's go back to the two things I mentioned previously. Self-love is key to any success when it comes to goals, relationships, and understanding within this world. The cliched phrase that loving yourself is crucial to loving others is sage wisdom since mental and emotional health is driven by personal worth and acceptance. Without this self-love, others have the power to determine our worth for us, dragging us down so far that suicide may seem like the only answer. As I sat in that room, staring at those pills, and reading my friend's text, I had to tell myself that even if my husband had failed to see my worth, that didn't mean it didn't exist. It meant I had to see it. I had to know it, embrace it, and recognize that I had something to offer this world. I had kids who needed me, family and friends who loved me, and people in this world who reminded me daily that I was not alone. We are not alone in this, and we need to stick around and help others so they can achieve their goals, enjoy fulfilling relationships, and see the world as full of possibilities rather than a world filled with heartache and pain. It's still a battle every day, but the love I finally feel for myself, the acceptance I have finally been able to offer myself has led to success in my professional life, patience and understanding in my relationships, and more empathy and compassion for everyone else in this world. At the end of the day, we're all just trying to do the best we can with what life has thrown at us, and I think self-love followed by love and acceptance of others is key to navigating mental health issues and helping those who struggle with it.

I believe there are certain people meant to come into your life and flip your worldview on its head. Precious moments where their words, their actions, and their experiences manage to broaden your horizons, stretch your belief systems, and grant you the compassion and understanding that everyone truly deserves from another human being. I met one very important individual during my second year of college. His background and upbringing had been so different from mine, and on paper, we didn't make sense. We had nothing in common and no real reason to be friends, but we connected immediately, and the rest is history. When I consider that our paths are made up of tiny moments that can seem insignificant at the time, I realize those moments, in one form or another, are truly pivotal in shaping who we are and what we become. Shaun is everything to me because those moments with him changed the trajectory of my life and made me a far better person than I ever could have been if I had relied solely on myself. Fortunately for me, I was able to write him a song that encompassed what he truly means to me.

As a life-long learner, I am currently working on my Master's in publishing. The path that brought me to this point was filled with constant opportunities for learning. I started out as a hopeful writer, learning my craft and developing my skills in engaging storytelling. I attended conferences and workshops to further improve my skills. I also joined writing groups, knowing I would need constructive criticism if I wanted to continually improve. After getting my first book traditionally published, I realized that I was very interested in the marketing and business aspects of the publishing industry. I also learned that indie publishing was the way to go if I really wanted to get my books out there. I took classes on market trends, book marketing, book launches, cover design, interior design, and the ins and outs of publishing wide and publishing through Amazon. With this knowledge, I was able to write and publish The Healer Series and Paranormal Misfits Series with great success, becoming a USA Today bestselling author and an Amazon bestselling author. Throughout this journey, I also learned how to become a developmental editor and line editor, creating a freelance business where I now assist other authors in prepping their books for publication. From there, I realized that helping other authors in this industry was what made me truly happy. I learned how to create a YouTube channel full of educational tutorials aimed at helping authors write, edit, publish, and market their books. I'm well versed in the indie publishing industry, but my Master's degree will assist me in understanding the traditional side of publishing. With this grant, I can become a true professional in the publishing industry and learn traditional publishing skills that will help me achieve my goal of discovering amazing, diverse writers who have important stories to share. They deserve to have their voices heard. I hope to be a huge player in that process.

Coming up with your own fictional story and writing it for yourself is rewarding. Sharing it with other people is nerve-wracking. Offering it up to be judged by experts is absolutely terrifying. I did it anyway. In 2016, I decided to enter two of my books into the Readers' Favorite International Book Awards Contest. I feared the feedback more than anything else. Constructive criticism is a gift, but you always hope people will enjoy your writing. To my absolute amazement, I received two silver medal awards for YA Romance and General Romance. I still have my medals to this day.